Brixen is a city of culture and good taste – and we know how to celebrate accordingly: con mucho gusto! Right in the middle of the bike festa Expo Area, you'll find the Gusto Lounge. Alongside Kuntrawant coffee, we're serving up wine and apple tastings with our sommeliers. Yes, apple sommeliers are a thing…

It might sound unusual at first – but give it a moment and it makes perfect sense: just like a wine sommelier, an apple sommelier uses all their senses to track down great flavour. At the apple tastings in our Gusto Lounge, it's all about exploring the apple varieties – from texture to taste. Gusto, struttura e aroma that's how the apple sommelier describes an apple in sensory terms.

Perfect timing: right in the harvest season

The apple sommelier also explains what matters when it comes to growing apples (think: a coat of ice as a natural frost protection…), which varieties are truly crisp and juicy, which ones keep well – and which apple tends to be a bit of a diva.

Our apple sommeliers all grow their own apples. South Tyrol is, after all, the largest contiguous apple-growing region in the EU. Almost 10% of Europe's entire apple harvest comes from here.

And the timing couldn't be better! The bike festa takes place right in the middle of South Tyrol's harvest season: September is prime time. So look forward to freshly picked, freshly prepared apples – plus recipe tips to take home.

One glass, or maybe two…

Of course, the Gusto Lounge also has wine tastings in store. After riding through the vineyards around Brixen, spend the afternoon with sommelier Paolo Tezzele – learning everything there is to know about the white wine varieties of the Eisacktal, how they're grown, the terrain, and, most importantly, which ones you love most.

Throughout the entire bike festa, the Gusto Lounge will be spoiling you with outstanding coffee from Kuntrawant.